MonicaPiece2

September 2011

Dear Parent/Guardian: This letter is to inform you of your student’s upcoming Junior Research Brief writing assignment (the students' first major writing assignment, tenatively scheduled for development during the end of the first quarter). The creation of the research brief will take one week of class time and include in-class instruction and writing time. The purpose of this assignment is not only to prepare your student for his or her Junior Project (and subsequently his or her Senior Project), but to also teach basic research skills. The desired outcome of this assignment is to arm your student with research skills, writing skills, and deductive reasoning skills. By honing each student’s communication skills (via the writing process),the Language Arts Department is striving to better prepare your student for the“real” world. As we are aware, it is a world where people are forced to communicate through the written word, whether it be when filing an accident report or filing an insurance claim. Thank you for the support you give your student as he or she pursues his or her academic endeavors. Feel free to access the document section of this Fusion Page for copies of the hand-outs and the guides for this project. Sincerely, Monica L. Swift Derby High School Language Arts

Dawn-I like the idea of "arming" students. The sentence felt unfinished though because you didn't state specifically what you are arming them for. I know the next sentence does, but the first sentence of the second paragraph just seemed to stop abruptly and I found myself adding to it. When during the school year does this project take place?